Simulated Object Orientations in Reading Sentences

About me

Sau-Chin Chen
associate professor, Department of Human Development and Psychology
Tzu-Chi University

Center for Open Science, Ambassador
Psychological Science Accelerator, Fellow, Assistant Director
scchen.com

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Orientation and Size: Beginning of our Journey

Properties Example \(Chone's\ d_z\)
Shape .27 ~ .31
Color .20 ~ .48
Size .07 ~ .27
Orientation .07 ~ .13

Source: Zwaan and Pecher (2012); de Koning et al. (2017b); de Koning et al. (2017a)

Why test orientation effects across languages

  • Inconsistent findings among languages
  • Mysterious implication: Language Comprehension X Actions
  • Update researchers’ scope

Issues

  • Mental Simulation: Our minds simulate what we are reading.
  • Match Advantage: (Check example)Faster responses to the object pictures which are compatible with our simulations.

Why the orientation effect has the smallest effect size?

  • Theory issues
    • Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
    • Diversity among languages
  • Methodology issues
    • Only small objects were employed in the investigation of orientation effect
    • Task demands: Verification only?

Registered Report

Investigate match advantage of object orientation between …

  • Large objects vs. Small objects: crane vs. cane
  • Tasks Picture Verification vs. Pictures Comparison vs. Picture Naming
  • Languages: English vs. Dutch(Dutch; English) vs. Chinese

Pre-analysis for sample size estimation

  • Estimate maximal sample size in terms of past results and .80 power
  • Decide Bayes Factor for stopping data collection

Findings

About picture verification

About picture identification

About picture naming

  • No language group shows match advantage of object orientation.
  • Naming small objects was faster than naming large objects.

Conclusion

  • Orientation effects shifted with object size and task demands
  • Moderator of languages

Orientation effects across languages

Why PSA accept this project

  • Timing
  • Significance
    Members share the interest with mine
    Accumulated evidence would provoke new research topic
  • Feasibility
    Members could run this project with the limited resource
    Members could afford the estimated sample size

Issue

  • Language Diversity: Finding robust orientation effect in addition to Amenrican English?
  • Embodied Cognition: Studies tested extended hypothesis in terms of small effect size
  • Which langauge aspects would alter match advantage of object orientation?
  • Language Diversity: American English shows the robust orientation effect
  • Embodied Cognition: Extended studies depended on small effect size
  • How would language alter match advantage of object orientation?
Theory Evidence
Credit: Roen Kelly

Registered Report

source: Moshontz et al. (2018)

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Is my plan global?

  • Many researchers share your interests to your plan.
  • Your plan would gather the collaborators who want to conduct the studies like yours.

How global is my plan ?

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  • Join the collaborative project close to your research interest
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How to propose my first collaborative project

Challenges (for local sites)

  • Limited resource
  • Incompatible with research interest
  • Awareness to update lab members’ practices
  • Motivation toward open sciences

Opportunities (for local sites)

  • Explore new research topics
  • Share experience
  • Upgrade scientific scope

Advantages (for sciences)

  • Investigate psychological effects which could be diverse among cultures, langauges, societies, and any human traits.
  • Accumulate the reproducible data in science literature.

Thoughts and Recommendations

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  • Improve your standard of research quality
  • Think about the global potential of your local study

Reference

de Koning, Björn B., Stephanie I. Wassenburg, Lisanne T. Bos, and Menno Van der Schoot. 2017a. “Size Does Matter: Implied Object Size Is Mentally Simulated During Language Comprehension.” Discourse Processes 54: 493–503. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2015.1119604.

———. 2017b. “Mental Simulation of Four Visual Object Properties: Similarities and Differences as Assessed by the Sentence-Picture Verification Task.” Journal of Cognitive Psychology 29 (4): 420–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2017.1281283.

Moshontz, Hannah, Lorne Campbell, Charles R. Ebersole, Hans IJzerman, Heather L. Urry, Patrick S. Forscher, Jon E. Grahe, et al. 2018. “The Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing Psychology Through a Distributed Collaborative Network:” Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, October. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245918797607.

Zwaan, Rolf A., and Diane Pecher. 2012. “Revisiting Mental Simulation in Language Comprehension: Six Replication Attempts.” PLoS ONE 7: e51382. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051382.